Aggressive interrogations during the Bush administration including water boarding forced the tactical mastermind of the 9/11 attacks to give up the name of an al Qaeda courier who helped lead U.S. intelligence operatives to the compound in Pakistan where terrorist Osama bin Laden was found hiding out, according to a Texas congressman on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Rep. Michael McCaul, an Austin Republican, told the Houston Chronicle that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed provided U.S. interrogators the name of a courier trusted by bin Laden, enabling U.S. officials to eventually track the courier to the compound where bin Laden was found and killed on Sunday by a helicopter-borne team of Navy SEALs.

McCaul, a former federal prosecutor who handled counterterrorism duties in Texas for the Justice Department, said Mohammed had surrendered the crucial information while being subjected to the “aggressive interrogation techniques for which the Bush administration was criticized,” including the simulated drowning technique known as water boarding.

The Washington, D.C., newspaper Politico quoted senior administration officials saying that interrogators were able to identify the courier by name in 2007 and tracked him back to the compound in Pakistan by August 2010, setting the stage for the commando raid that took place on Sunday.

Osama bin Laden / AP

“Unfortunately, it took nearly a decade to get bid Laden. I’m glad we finally did,” McCaul said. Bin Laden’s whereabouts came from KSM and were derived from him during the Bush years, McCaul continued. “The information came out of interrogations that have been harshly criticized. That was a very valuable to lead that led us to bin Laden. Critics of the interrogations did not realize the value the intelligence gave us in being able to finally kill bin Laden.”

McCaul said it was not yet clear whether Pakistani authorities had cooperated with the manhunt for bin Laden. “It’s hard to believe they didn’t know bin Laden’s whereabouts,” McCaul said, noting that bin Laden was tracked down to a fortified, million dollar compound in well-to-do suburb of Abbottabad, some 35 miles north of Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. Pakistan “notoriously plays both sides,” McCaul said. “We have always thought bin Laden was in the remote tribal areas in a primitive state. But where he was found was the town that serves as a retirement location for many senior members of Pakistan’s military and intelligence services.”

McCaul, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the GOP-led House would launch an inquiry into what Pakistani authorities knew about bin Laden’s location — and when. Congress has approved billions of dollars in military and economic assistance for Pakistan since 9/11 to help enlist the Muslim nation in the war on terrorism in neighboring Afghanistan.

“Were they protecting him? Were they complicit? Congress will absolutely look into Pakistani complicity,” McCaul said.